Father Geek here... With some great news... Robert Bernocchi, who has been providing us with news from Europe for over a year as one of Edgard's finest reporters (Venice, Cannes, Rome, etc...) has agreed to takeover for Edgard here at AICN as well as continue his work at Caltanet Cinema. Soooooo, our Euro offices are moving from Paris, France to Rome, Italy, home of so many great great film makers over the years. I'll be giving you all the contact info once Robert gets all set up.
Before I turn you over to him here's a couple of bits of Euro-news...
The director Mario Verger realised the first animated short movie ever dedicated to a Pope. Wojtyla, this is the title of the pic, tells the most important moments of the life of the Pope, from his youthness till the events occurred in his mandate, as the assassination attempt in 1981. "The movies based on the sacred books are generally insipid. I tried instead to describe Karol Wojtyla as a popstar", said Verger. The short movie includes also the real voice of the Pope. It took two years to be completed and 50.000 drawings.
You can see it by: Just Clicking Right Here
Father Geek back with a little BOND rumor...
Anyone from these shores (England) passed on this tidbit? A brief, 10 min live interview on a semi-religious programme here, "Heaven and Earth" saw veteran Bond composer John Barry tease incredibly with the suggestion that he wouldn't rule out returning to the baton for Bond 20.
This has fuelled atomic reaction on the Barry fan group, as it's understood David Arnold has already been signed! Is Arnold a fan or a rival? Could they collaborate? It is a 40th anniversary flick after all, and memories of the 25th with Living Daylights seem proof enough of possibility, at least.
Andy Dickenson UK
Now on to Robert, and the first of what ol' Father Geek hopes are many reports from the heart and soul of sunny Italy to grace our computers every Monday (with the occasional Special Report thrown in whenever the news demands it)...
Hi. My name is Robert Bernocchi, and I’m working for an italian web portal, that you can find here: Click to see it. From now on, I’m taking on the Euro-AICN column posted every Monday. Thus, if you have news, pics, reviews and whatever, send me everything at the usual euro account: euroaicn@yahoo.com
First, I would like to congratulate my predecessors. Edgard and Ozymandias did a wonderful job with this column and it was a pleasure to collaborate with them on several projects. I just hope to be worthy of their work.
Let’s start with a few tidbits of european news…
Many countries already chose the movies which will be submitted to the Academy for consideration in the best foreign Film category. France picked up Amelie, which is becoming the most successful pic of the year in its country. Denmark opted for the Berlin Film Festival sensation Italian for Beginners, while Czech Republic selected Jan Sverak (who already won the prize in ’97 for Kolya) Dark Blue World. Other Oscar competitors will be the belgian Pauline et Paulette, the norvegian Elling and the german Das Experiment. Italy hasn’t designed his champion yet, but it’s quite sure that Nanni Moretti Son’s Room (Palme d’or at Cannes 2001) will be the one.
The norvegian newspaper Dagbladet announced that the legendary director Ingmar Bergman will be back behind the camera for a sequel of his 1973’s Scenes from a Marriage (which was also released as a tv series). The two main actors of the original feature, Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, will be back as well. It was announced that this sequel will be focused on elderly people and how they face the old age. The last time Bergman directed a movie for cinema was in 1983, with Fanny and Alexander.
Michelangelo Antonioni started shooting his latest project, Eros. As the title indicates, the movie will focus on sex and erotism. As a matter of fact, Enrica Antonioni (Michelangelo’s wife) revealed that many scenes will be extremely realistic and asked the actors to be prepared to everything. The story revolves around a man who, after the conclusion of his marriage, begins a relationship with his ex-lover. A few months ago, some italian newspapers talked about Eros as a movie divided intothree tales, two of them directed by acclaimed helmers Pedro Almodovar and Wong Kar-Wai, but the production wasn’t able to confirm.
This week the British Independent Film Awards were given out...
The big winner was Jonathan Glazer debut feature Sexy Beast, which received four awards, including best movie, best director and best actor (Ben Kingsley).
Below, you’ll find a complete list of winners:
From Showbiz Ireland
ShowBizIreland.com has the first insider information on the script of the new Pierce Brosnan movie Evelyn, currently being made in Ireland. You can find it here (and there are also a few exclusive pics): Just Click Here
If you have any questions for Pierce Brosnan, you can write to ShowBizIreland.com, which will have an exclusive interview with questions suggested by readers. Mail your questions to 007@showbizireland.com
From Screendaily
Sean Penn joins stars Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes to the cast of Thomas futuristic It's All About Love, playing the enigmatic Man In The Plane. While the main part of the near future love story was shot this summer, Penn's character is isolated on a plane throughout the film and will not appear on screen with Phoenix or Danes, allowing him to join the film so late. Considering that this movie is scheduled on release next may and that The Celebration, Thomas Vinterberg debut, was awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, is quite sure where it will be presented.
After 14 weeks on release, this year’s surprise summer hit Der Schuh Des Manitu has broken the 15-year record held by comedy Otto – Der Film to become the most successful German film. Michael Herbig’s Western parody clocked up total admissions of more than 8.85 m by October 21, taking it past Otto – Der Film’s long-standing record set in 1985 of 8.78m admissions. Meanwhile, in Austria, Manitu has now posted 1.78m admissions, thus relegating blockbuster Titanic to second place in the Austrian all-time box-office.
From Allociné
As to broken records, Alejandro Amenabar's The Others became the most successfull local film ever in Spain. After six weeks of exploitation, the pic grossed 20 million dollars, surpassing Torrente 2 : Mission to Marbella, which held the record so far.
Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas will star in Petites Coupures, the next movie directed by Pascal Bonitzer. Daniel Auteuil will be a communist journalist divided between his longtime girlfriend Gaëlle and his young lover Nathalie. Two other women will come into his life. Béatrice (Kristin Scott Thomas), a stranger Auteuil will meet one night, and Mathilde, who’ll become the object of his affection after Béatrice will leave him.
Some news for Space 1999 and Futurama fans…
I am the co moderator of Online Alpha, the largest internet discussion list on the show Space 1999. Today, I heard that Powys Media, an L.A. based publishing company has acquired the publishing rights to SPACE: 1999 and are going to release a series of original novels based on the series. The first of these will be released before the end of the year and people involved in the original show are involved. www.powysmedia.com
We're all pretty excited about this news since these are the first officially licensed new novels on Space 1999 since the late 1970's.
Phil Marker
FUTURAMA is set for realese on dvd and vhs in box sets of the first season (in the uk not sure about America, ect) on 29th January 2002. My source? I purchased the Simpsons 1st season box set contained within was a leaflet anouncing the release of this box set on both formats on that date.
Luke Nicholas
Do you want to star in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? Listen what Schnorbitz has to say…
I've just checked in Cambridge University's student newspaper Varsity, and in it is the following ad (all punctuation is theirs):
Casting Call for the Warner's Film 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'
We are searching for the following characters for the second Harry Potter film...
TOM RIDDLE; Playing age 15-18. Not unlike an older version of Harry in look and in mind. Seemingly nice, but turns out to be something else... charmingly sinister (Lead). Standard English Accent
YOUNG HAGRID; Playing age 15-18. A young Robbie Coltraine! (One scene.)
If you would like to be considered for either of these roles, please send us a recent photo of yourself that we can keep. together with your name, date of birth, height and contact details to:
Karen Lindsay Stewart
PO Box 2301; London W1A 1PT
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU
A few tidbits regarding festivals all around the world…
"Comics World Expo '02" from 7 to 12 May 2002 at Innsbruck in Tyrol - Austria is announced as a Comics, Cartoons, Animations and Games Fair Festival. They say that, till now, no one have realized the true "World's Trip" where Editors, Distributors, Producers, Designers, Computer
Softwares, Audio-Visual Media, Animation's Teams, Comics, Cartoons, Films, Advertising, Electronic Games, Gadgets, all Industries based on - or in connection with - these products can present them self and their products to professionals of this market, media from the five continents and to the public.
More information on is at this Location
There's a festival of SF and fantasy films running at the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester, UK, over the next couple of weeks. Highlights include the UK premiere of GHOSTS OF MARS, the original HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL screened in 'Emergo', an all-dayer of the even-numbered STAR TREK films, plus a bunch of other classics and obscurities. All the details are at http://www.phoenix.org.uk
The 13th Annual Nortel Networks Palm Springs International Film Festival will return January 10-21, 2002. The festival is currently accepting film submissions prior to November 15, 2002. A team of film programmers are reviewing films from around the world for selection in the festival. Last year's festival included more than 150 films from approximately 40 countries and presented a majority of the films submitted for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the Academy Awards.
This one is from our regular correspondent Grozilla 2000
From december15th to 23th at The Forum des Images in Paris the new edition of Nouvelles images du Japon (New japanese images)will be on exhibit. It will be quite all devoted to Japanimation, with expected venues of people like Rin Taro. Films like Spirited Away (probably the only public advance screening before its french release on jan. 16th), Metropolis (Columbia announce some french release around feb-march) and many others (I've heard Satsohi Kon's Actress millenium...) will be screened there. Better, many directors and japanimation designers will stand some master classes. Buena Vista just re-released here last wednesday Princesse Mononoke with clips of Spirited away before main attraction. Good thing. Anyway it seems that in France too there's some trouble with the distributors of Miyazaki's works (I guess you read the story from The Independent...). I've heard thorugh the grapevine that some big boss from Disney's french office has been pissed off by some story on the Mad Movies (in short terms, kind of french version of Fangoria) internet site about how these films are obviously distributed with bad faith on theater and DVD/ VHS by this company. He's supposed to have threatened this newpaper of trial. Maybe it's just some rumor but the story is no longer on the site since those threats....
The Reviews
Last but absolutely not least, a first look to Robert Altman latest opus Gosford Park, the story of a football player in Ona Voli Zvezdu (thanks to our serbian contributor Ethan) and the crazy irsh youngsters of On the Edge.
Gosford Park
I went to see the above in London last night. I think it was the first ever 'public' screening.
GP has a great cast (Maggie Smith, Clive Owen, Richard E Grant, Ryan Phillippe, Emily Watson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Michael Gambon) and tells the story of a week-end at a large house in the English countryside. As it's set in 1930s, it's very upstairs / downstairs, and brilliantly contrasts the lords and ladies up in the main house, and servants living below.
Some of the writing is hilarious, particularly Maggie Smith as an irascible old Lady, and Michael Gambon as the head of the house. I don't want to go into the story too much, but my only faults with it are that there are so many characters that it sometimes becomes confusing to follow, and that it feels about 15 minutes too long. While it's a very enjoyable movie, I'm not sure if it will do much at the box office. This is a shame as Altman has created a very interesting and unique movie.
Ona Voli Zvezdu
On the Wednesday night we had movie premiere in Belgrade. It was the soccer teen flick Ona Voli Zvezdu. At the same time Serbia`s very own Dejan Stankovic scored the essential goal for the roman soccer team Lazio. Well, this is the movie about his first club Red Star Belgrade.
Red Star Belgrade is the greatest soccer team in the Balkans and among Top 10 in Europe. It`s comparable with English Manchester United, Spain`s Real Madrid, Argentinian River Plate, Brazilian Flamengo or US` very own New York Cosmos.
Ona Voli Zvezdu translates to She Loves Red Star. It`s a movie about the talented young street soccerist who meets the girl of his dreams and winds up as the rookie boy wonder in Red Star`s glorious jersey.
Is it any good? Well, that`s a tough question. Let`s say it`s good-natured.
The script was written by Gordan Mihic, a laboured veteran who isn`t the right fit for this kind of material. It feels as if Barry Levinson did American Pie. It simply isn`t true. The movie views youngsters as cliches.
It was also severely cut because it was made as as mini-series at the same time. Some characters simply appear for the star power even though their roles develop only in the series.
Actors had trouble on this one. Screenwriter/producer`s wife Vera Cukic is horrible as always. Danijela Vranjes is too old for her role. The only saving grace is leading man Gordan Kicic`s relaxed approach to the whole scam. He does it in cool manner with self-awareness that turns camp into trash. This movie was the screen debut for beautiful Ana Stefanovic, one of the prettiest Serbian actresses ever.
This feature was shot in digital technique. The transfer is done poorly. It was shot by the rookie DP and directed by the debutante director Marko Marinkovic. Marinkovic`s direction is hacky but since it is mostly made-for-TV, it works as it is.
Serbian cinema is pretty much stuck with Gordan Mihic`s scripts. His work gets made because he works as producer. Otherwise, most of his scripts wouldn`t be made in this form. The only virtue of his writing in this flick is that it is really good-natured bullshit unlike over-hyped hit Munje...
Review by Ethan
On the Edge
I generally like Irish films. I feel like I can relate to them more than their European or American counterparts. And a film about crazy Irish youngsters - bring it on!
On the Edge focuses on Jonathan Breech (Cillian Murphy), who, after the death of his father, goes off the rails and steals a car. Driving it off a cliff he miraculously survives and is given the option of going to prison or attending a psychiatric hospital. Begrudgingly he accepts the rehabilitation option. Initially Jonathan finds it difficult to adapt to his new surroundings (who wouldn't?) and refuses to partake in the therapy sessions headed by Stephen Rea, who plays Dr. Lucky for him though he soon bonds with enigmatic troubled soul Rachel (Tricia Vessey - Bean, Kiss the Girls) and Toby (Jonathan Jackson - The Deep End of the Ocean) a sensitive little boy lost character.
The three comrades develop a peculiar friendship and we see that Jonathan is caught between the self-destructive Rachel and the self-reflecting Toby. I could go on and analyse their individual relationships but I'll not bore you. Least to say that Jonathan falls in love with Rachel and I got the impression that there was perhaps another reason for Toby's friendship with Jonathan.
Given the story, these were surely difficult roles to play for the three main young actors. Cillian Murphy (who we will see soon in Disco Pigs) was not as strong as I'd have hoped. He had a tendency to swing from poignant seriousness to near amateur from scene to scene, but all in all it was a good effort. A fantastic performance by American actor Jonathan Jackson, with an excellent Northern Ireland accent. He succeeded in making Toby believable yet not too depressing. As for Tricia Vessey, her character was a bit too screwed up for my liking, and I didn't think she was the right girl for the part. Stephen Rea played one of his usual cheerless roles and did so competently. On the Edge deals with the dark issue of suicidal teens, no mean feat in this day and age. As a coming-of-age story (or is it a love story?), I suppose it can't help being melancholy and thankfully it has a good soundtrack, which almost draws the viewer into the situation the characters find themselves in. It's humorous in places too.
Directed by John Carney, there was overzealous use of camera action, which I felt distracting. At one stage the working title for this film was The Smiling Suicide Club... That says it all really. Review by Wayne Cronin
